Chapter 1

On this quiet winter morning, Huntingdon Castle seemed to be at peace, but appearances were deceiving. In reality, there was an air of tension about the entire complex that was hard to match, and this applied just as much to the people who were residing there. However, this was not a matter of concern, for it was a joyful tension, a sense of new beginnings, despite the cold weather and the snow. Normally this would have ensured that people would not venture out of the buildings unless it was absolutely necessary, but this day was different.

If it were a morning like any other, no one would have deemed it necessary to head outdoors. But even though the castle was in no danger of being attacked, almost all of the men-at-arms had made their way out of the buildings and into the cold. They walked slowly along the battlements or stood on the stairs leading to the defenses, while others gathered in the castle bailey. Instead of staying in the guardroom, or elsewhere in the castle to get warm at the numerous fireplaces, they exposed themselves to the weather. The same was true of the other inhabitants of Huntingdon, the servants, grooms, and clerks who had wrapped themselves in thick cloaks, as well as the steward of the castle, who in recent years had managed the affairs of Huntingdon Castle and its attendant lands in place of an earl.

Sir Ive de Condon had been appointed by the king to manage the Earl of Huntingdon's estates until a new earl had been appointed. After the death of Earl David there had been no heir, at least none acceptable to King John, and so he had more or less usurped the estate of the deceased. He had been able to use the money from the estates and castles for his war campaigns, which were expensive. Therefore, it was not surprising that the king did not hurry to acknowledge a new earl, and he had flatly refused to pardon the only son of David of Huntingdon, although there had been reasons for doing so. Even the king had not been able to deny that Robert of Huntingdon had been instrumental in saving the kingdom from the Knights of the Apocalypse and the great threat they had posed. Some of the barons had even dared to call the ruler's attention to something else. They had reminded the king, very carefully, that this was not the first time that the younger Huntingdon had saved the kingdom - or part of it. Sir Ive however was convinced that this was unlikely to have been the main reason for the new earl's course of action.

However, this had failed to convince the king, for the earl's son was also the notorious outlaw Robin Hood, who was supposed to have made life difficult for the ruler - but especially for his representative, the Sheriff of Nottingham. Sir Ive had heard from several sources that the young man had already cost John vast sums of money, but he didn't really want to believe that. What could a young nobleman playing outlaw and his few hangers-on really hope to do against the power of the king. But no matter what the knight thought of the whole affair, the ruler was obviously determined to recover everything by the revenues from the lands of which Robert of Huntingdon was supposed to be the heir.

The king had also refused to go along with the proposal to give the title - and thus the estate - of the late earl to one of his nephews. This was mainly due to the fact that one of them was the King of Scotland, who, in King John's opinion, already wielded far too much power.

But now a new king had been crowned and his regents had realized rather quickly that matters could not go on like this. It hadn't taken them long to pardon Robin Hood - and his followers - so that they could offer Robert his father's title. However, they were also aware that this would not be sufficient. Should they not be able to ensure that the people of the villages that were located in the forest of Sherwood were better off in the long run, they would not be able to get rid of the notorious outlaw, but most importantly, they would then miss the influence that the respective Earl of Huntingdon had always had at court. They had no doubt that the younger Huntingdon would carry this on, for that was what he had been brought up to do.

In order to enforce their plans, the nobles put the thumbscrews - figuratively speaking - on the Sheriff of Nottingham. In this manner, they actually managed to ensure that Robert of Huntingdon - or Robin Hood, as the people of the country called him - was willing to take on his father's legacy. And thus, also to clear Sherwood with his band. To no one's surprise, these measures did not please the sheriff, Robert de Rainault, and so they did not have to wait long before he began to complain vociferously that he could not possibly carry out his work in this fashion. But he failed, for the king's regents would not back down from their decision once again.

Now the day had come when the new earl was to arrive. A few days ago, he had taken the oath of fealty to his king in Winchester, and after that, as soon as he was able to, he set out for his old home. No one knew that he was a little apprehensive about returning there after his father's death, for he knew that it would never be the same again. It could never be the way it was in the time before he had answered Herne's call to take care of the people of Sherwood as his son. On the other hand, he returned here with a sense of relief since his spiritual father had encouraged him to accept the king's offer. He had shown him that it would enable him to help many more people than if he had remained in the forest. When he told his friends about what Herne had told him, they were willing to join him. He was glad he had been able to persuade them, for he was not sure he would have come back to Huntingdon without them. If he was honest with himself, he doubted it.

Sir Ive was relieved, too. Although managing such a large estate was certainly an honorable task, he had longed for this day. When the king had appointed him to the post, the knight had been flattered, but had quickly realized that he himself considered the administration of the earl's lands an exile from court. The Earl of Huntingdon might be one of the influential nobles, but the steward of his estate found himself far removed from all that was interesting. At least, far from all that Sir Ive found interesting. Nor had he been able to shake off the impression that the king had seen it differently after the Normandy fiasco in which de Condon had been involved. At that time, he had considered it fortunate to have come out of the dicey situation alive, which many others had not succeeded in doing, but in the meantime, he was no longer certain that he should not have decided differently. By now he was convinced he should not have come back across the Channel. No matter what his liege lord had told him, he was simply not fit to play steward to a snoot who preferred to give the outlaw instead of doing his duty as his father's heir. Therefore, the knight was relieved now that Robert of Huntingdon seemed to have finally come to his senses.

The knight had refrained from descending into the castle bailey proper, preferring instead to remain at the top of the stairs that faced the entrance to the great hall. Here he was still close enough to the action and had the advantage of being able to keep an eye on everything. A few minutes ago, he had been signaled from the castle ramparts that a group of horsemen was approaching, so he assumed that he would not have to wait very long now. However, he wondered why no word had reached him about the earl's entourage, and he wondered why the man had ridden so far ahead? Or was it simply the man's impatience to finally take his ancestral seat again. De Condon could not tell, for he had never met Robert of Huntingdon, yet what was said of him struck him as too incredible. He was not so naive as to believe that the son of an earl had actually been living in a forest for years, even though his followers had probably all bought it. On the other hand, any man would be able to hide behind all the rumors that were circulating about him and his family.

When a man on a nondescript brown nag came riding through the castle gates, the people who had been holding out in the castle bailey started to stir. Sporadic shouts and greetings rang out, but the majority of the people seemed as confused as Sir Ive was. What noble would ride such an animal? But the knight could not be sure of the rider's identity, for he had his hood pulled far down his face.

"Welcome, Master Robert!" a boy standing in one of the front rows called out suddenly, but others immediately tried to hush him. "That's 'My Lord'", the cheeky one was corrected right away from several directions. The knight could only agree with them.

"Welcome, my Lord!" now rang out from various parts of the castle bailey, but scattered whoops and cries of joy could also be heard. And then the people actually laughed out loud, showing that they were obviously happy to see their young lord return home. And more and more of them joined in this cheering.

The earl - if that was indeed who he was - seemed to be quite taken aback, however, by the crowd of people waiting for him. With a sudden jerk on the reins, he did bring his mount to a halt, but then he merely raised his head and stared at the scene before him.

While he paused, as if a spell had turned him to stone, more people had ridden through the gates into the castle bailey. Right behind him was a younger woman, whose red curls immediately caught the eye of the royal steward. Restrained in a braid, these fell far down her back, for she had already let her hood fall to her shoulders. This must be Marion of Leaford, the daughter of a crusader. Her father had obviously not been able to tame her, for she had probably been cavorting rather freely with the young earl. Thus, she was definitely no match for a peer of his stature. She stopped right next to the first rider and spoke softly to him, whereupon he finally pushed back his hood, revealing a shock of long blond hair. Sir Ive breathed another sigh of relief as new cheers erupted. This was the earl after all. Hopefully he was finally making his way up here.

But then the knight was distracted by the next newcomer and he was unable to continue breathing for a moment. He hadn't seen someone like this man in years. More precisely, he had hoped never to see someone like him again, for in the Holy Land he had faced countless of them, had fought untold numbers of them. In any case, so many that he was fed up with them for the rest of his life. Without a second thought, he had started to unsheathe his sword at the sight of the black-clad Saracen. Realizing this, he quickly eased it back, hoping no one would have noticed. But he just couldn't get his breathing under control, for the surprise of encountering one of the black-clad infidels from Outremer here was more than just unpleasant. He had spoken to people who had told him quite convinced that they had seen a Saracen in Sherwood, but he had simply not been able to believe this. Now he could only hope that there were not more of these unpleasant surprises.

Fortunately for the knight, the remaining four horsemen seemed downright inconspicuous, at least compared to the stoic-looking foreigner. One of them was obviously a soldier, scowling at everyone around him, including his companions. Next to him walked a bearded giant who apparently preferred to lead his horse by the reins. Rounding out the small group was a fat monk on a mount that the knight almost pitied, and at his side was a red-haired man who stared open-mouthed at his surroundings. He looked like the proverbial village idiot and de Condon wondered what such a person was doing in the company of an earl. But he also asked himself how anyone could seriously assume that this peasant was one of the dangerous outlaws. That was simply preposterous.

The earl glanced around dumbfounded, apparently overwhelmed by the mass of people who greeted him. He shook his head in disbelief and then said something to his companion, whereupon a smile appeared on her face before she answered him. He gazed at her for a moment more before finally dismounting from his horse. Almost immediately, he vanished into the crowd as everyone in the castle bailey flocked toward him. Everyone down there seemed to want to greet him in person, and apparently, he was going to let all of them. Now it was up to the knight to shake his head in disgust. If this went on, he would have to wait out here for hours before he could greet the earl, and he should have been the first. Robert of Huntingdon was probably even more eccentric than he had been told. Sir Ive sighed softly.

As if the young earl had heard him, he suddenly glanced up and looked directly at the knight. This stare was so penetrating that de Condon had the impression that the other knew exactly what he was thinking. And suddenly he felt ashamed, for having considered himself more important than this influential noble, just because he was so much younger than he was. For a moment he had forgotten his place in the world of Norman nobles, and he was vexed, fearing that he would again be shunted off to some position of no interest for having misbehaved. But maybe he could get rid of this bad impression with the earl, as long as he now managed not to forget the rules of society once again. Besides, he wasn't entirely insignificant either, having kept this man's estate intact for quite some time. Who knows what would be left of it otherwise?

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Robin was glad to finally have a few minutes to himself, especially after the exertions of the last week. But he had only himself to blame, for he had simply not given any further thoughts about how exactly the transfer of his inheritance would take place. In the meantime, he had realized that he had approached the whole matter a bit too naively. Fortunately, everything now seemed to be settled and Sir Ive, the steward appointed by the king, could then depart, to their mutual relief. The young earl had to give him credit, however, for doing his work very well. This was more than he had expected from the man beforehand. However, it had not escaped him that the knight had not been comfortable in his role. Quite obviously, he was a man who preferred to act rather than sit in a castle. In any case, he had given Robin the impression that he would rather fight battles than manage lands, and then lands that did not belong to him. For this reason, he had probably considered himself shunted off to this place.

But the young man also had to admit - at least to himself - that he had underestimated the difficulties of making himself at home again on Huntingdon. He had not forgotten, of course, that he had called Sherwood Forest home for a number of years - and, strictly speaking, it still was for him - but here at the castle he had lived much longer. So, he had believed it would be sufficient if he simply returned here. However, on the very first day, he had realized how wrong he had been. He had obviously misjudged how much he had changed. In any case, much more than he himself had ever assumed.

And then there were his friends. It wasn't easy for him as it was, but it was even harder for them. Marion had lived a similar life before and therefore didn't really consider it that difficult to live in the castle, but they both hadn't taken into account how the people here would react to her presence. It hadn't occurred to them how displeased they were to see her by their earl's side, and they were letting her know that. It had not been of much use that he assured everyone that they were legally married. What was it going to be like when they actually brought Robyn here as well? He sighed, because right now he couldn't imagine that happening.

Tuck had found it somewhat easier, for he could withdraw to the castle's chapel. Now that it was certain that he had not been excommunicated, he could take care of people other than his friends, which was a good way to distract himself from the problems in the castle. And the priest, who was actually responsible here, had indeed been pleased about this support. This had turned out to be one of the few bright spots of the last week.

In contrast, his other friends definitely did not feel at ease in the castle. After the initial excitement had died down, they began to separate themselves. Not only from the other residents of Huntingdon, but - to Robin's chagrin - from him as well. Perhaps that was due to the fact that he hadn't been able to spend much time with them. But he would be glad if it turned out later that this was the only reason, for he intended to change that again soon now. If they did resent him for returning here, though, it would be much harder for him to make it right. Which didn't mean he wouldn't tackle it. He would not rest until they could all work together again.

The only one who didn't let on what was going on in his mind was Nasir, of course. But he too had been avoiding Robin, though in his case the young man hoped this was simply because he wanted to give him time to sort everything out. This would not be out of character for his friend, but Robin missed talking to him, even if the Saracen had never spoken to him a great deal. But he had always supported him, and without him Robin would have felt quite lost during his first time with the outlaws.

While reflecting on the past days and his friends, the young earl wandered across the castle bailey, passed the stables and finally stepped out a gate that was right next to it. Beyond it was a pasture where the castle's mounts, which could not be ridden regularly, were allowed to roam in the fresh air. Although all the horses of the castle came to pasture from time to time, but here, so close to the stables, there were only the horses of better quality and those that had been trained for battle. The work horses would be out in the outer pastures, unless they had been put to work.

Finally, Robin stopped at a spot where he could watch the animals and then his gaze lingered on a magnificent black stallion that was rolling blissfully on a dusty patch of earth. After getting back on his legs with verve, he galloped once across the pasture, showing off his spirit. Robin admired the play of muscles under the shimmering coat, while at the same time being glad that the animal had been taken care of so well in recent years. He hoped he had been ridden often enough, too, because his owner had not been able to take care of him. He sighed as he was reminded as to why this was.

"You've done what you could, Robin", Marion's voice rang out from behind him unexpectedly. "You're not his keeper. And there's no way he'd thank you for it." She did sound a little displeased.

The young man turned and gave his consort a bright smile. On this day, when he finally had no duties for a while, he certainly didn't want to spoil the mood by arguing with Marion. Besides, he had to admit that she had a point. The owner of the stallion would definitely not thank him for being concerned about his welfare. Maybe he would be grateful for taking care of this horse, but more likely he would accuse him of theft. Still, he couldn't stop worrying.

"You're right" he agreed with her as he drew her into his embrace. He had just been able to stop himself from frowning when he noticed how tired she appeared. He wasn't sure if he should call her on it yet, though, as she could be a bit sensitive about that. She didn't like to be reminded that even she couldn't keep up with the others at times. Or that she was more likely to need rest than he was.

"Still ..." he went on, but she didn't let him finish.

"We searched the whole place at that time and didn't find any trace of him, except ..." she glanced at the black stallion.

"But he couldn't have just walked away like that", he objected. "Nasir has clearly confirmed that he was wounded in the fight. And he would never have taken a horse other than Fury to get away from there. He would never have left him behind, either. I don't think there's anything more important in his life."

Marion shook her head. Robin knew she couldn't understand why he was racking his brains over this man who had tried to kill them all so many times in the past. After all, he himself had no idea why he kept mulling over what had happened to this Knight of the Apocalypse, who he knew was also his brother. But he was glad that not too many persons knew about this family secret so far, after all, it could get awkward if such a matter was on everybody's lips.

Robin sighed again. He'd probably better change the subject. "Fury's not the only one who could use some exercise. What do you say we all head out to visit the villages in the area? People shouldn't be left in the dark about who's master on Huntingdon now. And it would be a distraction from the events of the past week."

His suggestion brought a smile to Marion's face. "That's an exquisite idea. And I bet the others will be glad to escape the castle, too." Suddenly, she lowered her eyes and looked embarrassed. "I didn't mean to say I wasn't happy for you. I think it's right that you should have been able to take your inheritance." She fell silent.

He hugged her to him. "I know what you mean. I'm not really comfortable here myself, so I can imagine how you feel. Or the others. This is just way too different from our life in Sherwood. And they probably can't imagine that I can continue to be Herne's son and be the Earl of Huntingdon at the same time. Will has already accused me of the impossibility of caring for the people and advising the king at the same time."

"Will! He wouldn't be content with anything the least bit Norman. It has taken him a long time to stop blaming you for your heritage, and I'm afraid it's all starting all over again now!" she exclaimed.

"I think he just feels useless here in the castle. He doesn't know what he can accomplish here, he needs a purpose. So, do the others. Only Tuck has found anything in that regard so far."

"I guess you have your purpose as well", she seemed to reproach him.

"It's not really what I had in mind. If I'm going to continue to take care of people who are oppressed and exploited, I need to find a steward I trust as soon as possible. And a constable for the castle."

"But none would be something for one of our friends", Marion interjected.

At the idea of one of them trying his hand as steward of Huntingdon, Robin had to laugh aloud. "I trust them with a lot of things, but not with that. And I like them far too much to put them through anything like that. Although I could well imagine Will getting a handle on the men-at-arms, and pretty fast, too. Maybe I should let him command the guard, what do you think?"

Marion joined in his laughter and it was a moment before she was able to answer him. "That probably wouldn't be the worst idea. But what about John and Much? They're not going to make themselves at home here. What about Nasir? Will the people here ever accept him?"

"I'll think about it, I promise you. But for now, it would be nice if you could find the others. I want them with me when I talk to my tenants. It would be good if you all kept your eyes open for possible problems. And while you gather up our friends, I'll take care of the horses."

The prospect of getting out of the castle made Marion's eyes light up, but before she broke away from him, she kissed him. Only then did she set off in search of the others.

Robin turned back to the horses one more time. No matter what he had expressed to his consort, he just couldn't stop worrying. Although he had to agree with her, at least in the sense that they had indeed done everything in their power. As soon as he had taken his father's body to Huntingdon - and Will, John and Much had returned to Sherwood - he and his remaining friends had revisited the scene of the battle. They had looked all over the keep and had also explored the vicinity as far as they were able. But they had failed to discover anything, except for the horses in the stable. Obviously, no one had taken an interest in them, but fortunately for the animals they had been well cared for prior to the attack and had therefore survived the days that had passed reasonably well.

Robin Hood had not been able to let the opportunity go by and so they had taken the animals to sell them. Money for the needy in Sherwood. In the process, he had managed to make sure that the black stallion was separated from the others without alerting his friends. He had then managed to get the animal to Huntingdon, where he hid it among the horses of the castle. When the steward appointed by the king appeared at the castle, it was already in the pasture among the other animals. Sir Ive never learned that it actually did not belong there.

But afterwards he had at first no further idea what else he could do. He actually considered himself fortunate that something had come to him eventually, and he had hurried to put his idea into action right away. But he did not know whether he had achieved anything with that. And that's why he was still brooding, because he just couldn't believe that his brother had disappeared so easily. And he also didn't want to believe that he was no longer alive, although that would have solved some problems.